K12 second fusible link blown

i bought my 53 Reg K12 about a month ago, at the time the guy who sold it to me told me that he had blown the fusible link when he replaced the battery. The other day my wife drove the car to drop our son to nursery, when she came to drive it home it would not start and it turns out that the 80 amp fuse on the top of the fusible link has blown. I have purchased a new part for 50 quid on EBay but I am worried about fitting it in case it blows again. I spoke with a local auto electrician to see if he would take a look at it and he told me that if the fault is intermittent it could be hard for him to diagnose and perhaps I should take a look to see if there are any obvious problems with the wiring - the problem is I don't know where to start looking, Does the fact that the fuse on the top top of the fusible link blew point to a particular area to concentrate my search on?
Any tips on locating the source of the problem would be much appreciated!
 
Hi, I had a similar issue some years ago. My step son started the car and backed it off the drive way and pop! the car went dead with all the dashboard lights flashing wildly. The fusible link had blown and killed the battery almost instantly (maybe it was a battery problem that caused it).

The RAC responded and sold me a new battery (it was dead and wouldn't hold a charge) and rigged up a bypass around the particular fuse by soldering a large 80amp fuse with a length of thick wire and and a ring terminal on one blade and another piece of wire linking the other blade into the appropriate wire after the fusible link. An ad hoc repair but it lasted something like 5 years, it may be a cheap way of checking that there isn't a fault with your battery maybe.

One thing I did notice is that when RAC guy removed the fusible to work on it he showed me the fuses in the link (by taking the observation window off) and it was clearly evident that the fuse had simply corroded over time and had got to a point were it couldn't carry the charge and burnt out.

I would advise checking for corrosion around the fusible link including taking the window off which is nothing more than a clear plastic clip around the fuses.
MAKE SURE YOU MAKE THE CAR SAFE TO WORK ON BEFORE DOING THIS!
PLEASE NOTE, Before disconnecting the negative terminal make sure you lock the radio into service mode or know for certain your radio code to unlock it later!
disconnect the battery at the negative terminal first and isolate it (i just wrap a dry carrier bag around it and gently tuck it out of the way), you can then disconnect the positive terminal making it easier to inspect the fusible link assembly.

Hope this helps.
 
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